Steel Products Prices North America
June 2, 2020
Steel Production Sees Another Small Uptick
Written by Tim Triplett
Mill utilization by domestic steelmakers improved slightly for the second week in a row–perhaps an early hint of an improving economy and growing demand. Steel production in the week ending May 30 totaled 1,206,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average utilization rate of 53.8 percent. Production was up 1.3 percent from the prior week when the utilization rate was 53.2 percent, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute. While slightly positive, the current week’s production still represents a 35.9 percent decrease from the same period last year when the cornonavirus pandemic was nowhere on the horizon.
Adjusted year-to-date production through May 30 totaled 34,296,000 net tons at an average utilization rate of 69.3 percent–down 16.1 percent from production in the same period last year when the average utilization rate was 81.4 percent.
